Friday, August 27, 2010

We have previously blogged on Iceland's precipitous financial collapse, and linked through to American organisations pushing their toxic anarcho-capitalist agenda in that country. Now check out this link which explores the contribution of Columbia University's Fred Mishkin. Embarrassingly for him, just before the financial crisis washed over Iceland, Mishkin penned a rather ill-conceived report on financial liberalisation in that country claiming that "prudential regulation and supervision is generally quite strong" on the basis of absolutely no research or in-depth analysis, and failing to register that the report was funded by the Icelandic Chamber of Commerce - whoops, not the first time we find senior academics and / or business schools failing to declare potential conflicts of interest. Do watch the video link here and watch Mishkin fail to answer the questions about his professional conduct.

Many factors have contributed to financial and economic crises around the world. With a few honourable exceptions, academic economists have played their own shabby little part, imposing an intellectual straitjacket on debate and failing to understand the limitations of their petty theories which seldom have even the remotest link to human realities. It is frightening that people like Mishkin ended up directing the Federal Reserve.

1 Comments:

Oh the ugly face of Anarcho-Capitalism. It is founded on philosphical quicksands ie the pseudo-mystical concept of property ownership propounded by John Locke, as fertilised by the dodgy economics of the Austrian school.

Anarcho-Capitalists, who are against government per se, point to the heroic days of the North American homesteaders who peacefully took over unowned land and worked it as family farmers. Only the land was not un-owned and the US Army had to keep out the previous occupants and defend the valiant homesteaders. At which point the whole case for Anarcho-Capitalism topples and falls apart.

Yet somehow A-C has become the most powerful political idea around for the past 30 years.

Check out Bennet, Rothbard & Co. who are the chief purveyors of this toxic tosh.

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The Tax Justice Network (TJN) is an international, non-aligned network of researchers and activists with a shared concern about the harmful impacts of tax avoidance, tax competition and tax havens.
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